Kit Harington is a busy man. Not only does he star in upcoming film Testament of Youth, but he’s got a new series of Game of Thrones set to hit screens this April and a starring role in the Spooks movie.

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So, when we sat down for a Kit chat, it’s fair to say we had plenty of questions for the 28-year-old British actor, best known for playing Jon Snow in the gory HBO series.

Here’s what he had to say…

1. Kit Harington wants to be a superhero

He may be better recognised in his heavy furs, but Kit’s keen to don a pair of tights, following in the footsteps of fellow Brits Tom Hiddleston, Andrew Garfield, Henry Caville and, most recently, Benedict Cumberbatch. “I think in the future it’s something I would look at,” he tells us. “Those movies are awesome fun to do and get watched by millions and millions and millions of people and people have a real passion for [them]. It would have to be the right one at the right time and I’d be lucky to be offered it.”

2. He’s also keen to play the bad guy but worries no one will cast him

“I don’t know if I’ll ever be the baddie, ” he laments. “I’d like to but I don’t know if they’ll ever take a shot with me being the baddie. They always want to put me as a whiter than white character. I’d like to play something darker.” Although, playing Will Holloway in the Spooks movie is giving him a taster for it: “he’s not squeaky clean. Jon Snow is pretty squeaky clean, Roland [in Testament of Youth] is pretty squeaky clean, this guy’s a little darker at times.”

3. You can expect some more grisly deaths in the Spooks movie

Although he admits he’s never seen any of Spooks, Kit’s up to speed with the BBC drama’s penchant for killing off its characters in gruesome fashion (we’ll never forget that deep-fat fryer…) So, should we be bracing ourselves for more grisly departures when the series transfers to the silver screen? “I think you’re probably going to see some of that,” he teases. I like it when drama doesn’t really pull the punches and I think Spooks was very successful because of that and Thrones is very successful because of that. It doesn’t treat audiences like f***ing idiots.”

4. Kit loves the smell of England

Yes, that’s right. The smell. He may not believe in “flying the flag” but Kit admits, “when I’m away in America for a while, I turn into more of a patriot than ever. I’m always ‘England this, UK that’. The smell of being home, the signs and everything that’s homely, I love that. I love this country. I love being part of this country.”

5. He believes in love at first sight

Kit’s Testament of Youth character Roland falls in love with Vera Brittain (played by Alicia Vikander) after spending mere days in her company before heading off to fight in the First World War. “That was the hardest thing for me,” he explains, “taking myself back to being 18, 19 and remembering first love.” So, does he believe in love like that? “I do at that age. They were together for such a short time. They were 19 years old and desperately in love – you can see from their letters – and a war like that when someone’s away only heightens that.”

6. Game of Thrones is everything to Kit

“It’s very hard to look at it from an outsider’s perspective. Because Game of Thrones is the most massive thing in my life, it sometimes feels like it must be the most massive thing in the world.”

7. But he’s avoiding all series five spoilers

“In previous years I’ve read every episode of every season so when it comes round, I can picture it and it’s not desperately different from how I imagined. But this year, I didn’t read anyone else’s stuff apart from mine. This is as far as I’ve read up to in the book. When people start talking about it in the bar, I’m like ‘shut the f**k up’ because I don’t want to know. So I’m going to watch it as a fan this year. I might hate it.”

8. The new series has the biggest budget yet

Look out for some action-packed set pieces this year. “It was phenomenal this season,” says Kit. “They’ve seriously overreached themselves. This year we were doing lots of big, big action pieces and in past years with Game of Thrones you’ve heard, ‘Have we got the money for that?’ And they’ll go, ‘Not really, you can’t do that.’ This year, it was ‘Have we got the money for that?’ And they were like, ‘Yes, go for it.'”

9. And – surprise, surprise – more deaths

BREAKING NEWS: Kit can confirm there will be more gory demises when the Starks and Lannisters return. “There are deaths. I don’t know who dies – well, I do from which actors have gone – but I don’t know how they die.” Come on, Kit. Read those scripts and give us some juicy details.

10. Game of Thrones throws rubbish parties

Because of the endless exodus of popular characters, we just presumed there was some sort of tradition for bidding farewell to such famous faces as Sean Bean and Richard Madden. But no. “I know they have death parties for other shows but we just don’t,” says Kit. “It’s just a drink in the bar and ‘I’ll see you soon’. No one on Thrones is very good at goodbyes.”

11. Colin Morgan is wonderful to work with

We were pretty certain of this fact already. The former Merlin actor plays Vera and Roland’s friend Victor in Testament of Youth, alongside Taron Egerton as her brother. “He’s brilliant, Colin,” gushes Kit. “He’s got a real sensitivity in this film which is beautiful to watch. I loved working with all three of them, Alicia especially because we had more stuff together.”

Testament of Youth is released in UK cinemas this Friday 16th January. Watch the trailer below:

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